Food Security in Toronto: An Introduction

Were you able to eat three full meals yesterday? Were they nutritious, delicious, and easy to obtain? While you may think about the first two issues quite often, chances are that, in Canada, you may not often think about ease of access to food. You may be close to groceries, convenience stores, farmers’ markets, and other places that sell foodstuffs, but this is not the case for all people, even in a developed country such as Canada. Despite ranking as one of the most food-secure countries in the world, some segments of Canada’s population suffer from food insecurity, an issue that is often linked to poverty. While Toronto may be a booming cosmopolitan city, certain neighbourhoods, especially those in low-income areas, often suffer from chronic issues of food insecurity. Unfortunately, there are people in our city today that go without food on a regular basis.

Food security can be defined through five different factors: availability of food, accessibility to food, the adequacy of food (making sure that it is nutritious and environmentally sustainable), the acceptability of food (access to food that it culturally sensitive and or adaptable to cultures), and agency of food (making allowances so that the process of attaining food is secure).  Two out of three low-income families in Toronto are food insecure, meaning that they cannot regularly meet the five factors of food security. They may even be food deprived and go days without meals due to a lack of funds. While the issue of food insecurity can be tough to battle, it is not insurmountable; with the help of food banks, shelters, community gardens,  and other food-based community services, we can help our neighbours become self-sufficient so that we can all be filled and food secure. foodSPEAKS! is proud to be a part of the solution by helping to provide families with access to food in the Toronto neighbourhoods that need us most.

To learn more about food security and surrounding issues, take a look at the following video. Though Australia-based, the facts and figures are of worldwide significance.